I have a 12,000 mile 95 Fatboy Evo Harley. Due to my bad back & age 72 I only put a few hundred miles a year on it. Its getting impossible to find diesel grade oil in 20/50, only 15/40. Will running the 15/40 when Harley says to run 20/50 cause problems ? I change the oil every winter and fill the tank. The [censored] cam bearings were changed at 200 miles. It has ported heads and a mild Comp Cams 3030 cam & Supertrapp 2-1 pipe
Dino oil for low miles per year 95 fatboy Evo
- Thread starter mtlineman
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20/50 Valvoline VR-1 has benn outstanding in many Harley reports.
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Originally Posted By: mtlineman
I have a 12,000 mile 95 Fatboy Evo Harley. Due to my bad back & age 72 I only put a few hundred miles a year on it. Its getting impossible to find diesel grade oil in 20/50, only 15/40. Will running the 15/40 when Harley says to run 20/50 cause problems ? I change the oil every winter and fill the tank. The [censored] cam bearings were changed at 200 miles. It has ported heads and a mild Comp Cams 3030 cam & Supertrapp 2-1 pipe
A 15w40 will be fine as you are only doing short OCI's. If I had a Harley, I would try one of their dealers for oil, but if that is too expensive then Castrol GTX 15w40 with the correct amount of Liqui Moly Ceratec should work to protect the cams.
I have a 12,000 mile 95 Fatboy Evo Harley. Due to my bad back & age 72 I only put a few hundred miles a year on it. Its getting impossible to find diesel grade oil in 20/50, only 15/40. Will running the 15/40 when Harley says to run 20/50 cause problems ? I change the oil every winter and fill the tank. The [censored] cam bearings were changed at 200 miles. It has ported heads and a mild Comp Cams 3030 cam & Supertrapp 2-1 pipe
A 15w40 will be fine as you are only doing short OCI's. If I had a Harley, I would try one of their dealers for oil, but if that is too expensive then Castrol GTX 15w40 with the correct amount of Liqui Moly Ceratec should work to protect the cams.
I tried 15W-40 in my Harley
Sounded like a thrashing machine. One day later I went back to Castrol 20W-50 GTX and all is good again. Same for some of my bud's...
Castrol RS 10W-60 might be a good alternative... VR-1 is also a very good choice
In my experience, Harley's do not like thin oil...
Sounded like a thrashing machine. One day later I went back to Castrol 20W-50 GTX and all is good again. Same for some of my bud's...
Castrol RS 10W-60 might be a good alternative... VR-1 is also a very good choice
In my experience, Harley's do not like thin oil...
If you have 20/50 Valvoline VR-1 available it would work fine for your amount of riding. I have seen a few people run 15w40 with no problems. But as we know all harleys are different. I always ran Mobil 1 20w50 or Red Line 20w60. but at the time I was logging 20k a year.
Valvoline VR1 20w50 as well as Kendall GT1 20w50 have returned utterly splendid numbers in used oil analysis on Harley big twins.
If you need a Wal Mart available fix, the Mobil 1 15w50 should do just fine. It is mostly Group III synthetic, which is still "dino", just highly refined crude.
If you need a Wal Mart available fix, the Mobil 1 15w50 should do just fine. It is mostly Group III synthetic, which is still "dino", just highly refined crude.
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Have you looked at Walmart? The stores by me have Valvoline dino 20W-50 and Mobil 1 4T 20W-50. The Mobil 1 at Walmart is probably no more expensive than dino oil from a Harley dealer.
Will check Walmart, been using O'Rielly Auto Parts as they are real close. Have used 15/40 Castrol GTX in my 4 cyl [censored] bikes for years. Thanks
I use Valvoline VR-1 20/50 wt in the warmer months, and 2 qts of Valvoline's MC 20/50, and 2 qts of their 10/40 wt mc oil in the winter month's. Harley says you can use 10/40 when the temp is 40f or lower. I've been doin this routine for years and no problems for 61k miles.,,
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